This Week’s Apple Rumors, Ranked From Dumbest to Most Plausible

Each week, there are dozens of rumors, reports, and patent filings that hint at what’s coming out of Cupertino next. Some are legit, but many are totally bogus. As always, we’ve parsed the rumors, ranking them in order from “utterly ridiculous” to “duh, of course.” First up…

DON’T COUNT ON IT: iPhone 6 ‘Prototype’ With Protruding Camera Caught on Film
Someone in China supposedly snapped an image of an iPhone 6 prototype, and it has a few curious features that make it seem, well, not quite authentic. The device, which appears to be taller and thinner than the current 5s, features an iPod touch-like camera protruding from its rear face, and does not have the dual True Tone LED flash Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s. Both of these seem like unusual moves in the evolution of the iPhone, so we won’t hold our breath that these images are the real deal.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Working on New On-Screen Gaming Control Technology
Apple’s demonstrated an interest in advancing iOS gaming with certified controllers, and it’s possible the company could also be advancing its touch sensors to make gaming better, too. A patent describing a way to detect not only touch, but pressure — FTIR (Frustrated Total Internal Reflection), is what the tech is called — made its way through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Thursday. It combines infrared light detection with capacitive touch sensing to track your finger’s position on a touchscreen and how much force you’re using. This technology would in theory let you adjust speed in a car racing game by pressing the screen harder. Of course, this has all sorts of other uses too, in navigation menus and user interfaces, as well as apps and games. A report out of China suggests Apple could be adding both pressure and heat sensors to the next iPhone, so it’s possible that this patent has more legs than others we’ve seen.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Investigating EarPods With Voice Recognition
Another patent published Thursday shows that Apple is looking at how to make those EarPods that come bundled with your iPhone or iPod purchase even better with the addition of voice recognition and an accelerometer. The earbuds would be able to recognize a user’s voice (thanks to vibrations picked up by the accelerometer or other sensors), triggering the activation of built-in microphones that can use beam-forming to better identify your voice and suppress noise around you. It sounds like a good idea, and certainly could be something Apple will include in future generations of EarPods.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Apple Looking to Acquire Japanese Chipmaker to Improve iPhone Battery Life
According to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, Apple is in talks with Renesas Electronics, a Japanese chipmaker, to buy the portion of the company that makes smartphone chips and displays. This would let Apple bring more component development in-house, and could reportedly improve onscreen image sharpness and device battery life. If true, this deal would close by the end of summer. Renesas Electronics is currently one of Apple’s component suppliers, and Apple does appear to be trying to bring more product development in-house. While Apple would likely never comment about such a deal or acquisition, it makes sense.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: iPhone 6 Display Production Could Start in May
We already heard before that Pegatron would begin next-gen iPhone production in Q2 of this year. But the latest is that production could start as soon as next month. While that sounds right, timing wise, the report also says that production of the 5.5-inch display rumored for the next iPhone is already delayed due to manufacturing issues. The smaller 4.7-inch model is going fine, though. As with the launch of any new iPhone design, there tends to be kinks in the manufacturing process that eventually get ironed out, but those can lead to a backlog of orders once the product is announced and pre-orders go up.